'He brought laughter': Remembering snooker's lost great a score of years on.

Everything the young snooker player truly desired to do was practice the game.

A sporting bug, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his parents' coffee table in his Leeds home, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him secure six major trophies in six years.

The present year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a phenomenal skill that went beyond the game he loved, his influence and memory on the game and those who knew him remain as powerful today.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum states.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," he adds. "He competed every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the transition from home play with remarkable ease.

His natural ability would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework often being ignored as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their young son had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, youthful appearance and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

No wonder then, that he was christened 'A Sporting Icon'.

A Brave Battle: A Fight Against Cancer

In that year, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple anecdotes from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary commitment to honor obligations to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's family-like circuit lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas plummeted.

"The idea was for a program to help get kids off the street," one organizer said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a huge coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children internationally.

"Paul would have loved what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she adds. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

Although he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have secured snooker's greatest prize is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his successes, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is never forgotten.